1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique, system and computer program for providing users of search engines with enhanced search results. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique which permits a user of a search engine to review enhanced search results and more easily determine if a document listed in the search results actually contains information sought by the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past few years there has been an explosive growth in the Internet, and in particular of the World Wide Web (WWW), which is one of the facilities provided on top of the Internet. The WWW comprises many documents or pages or files of information, distributed across many different servers. Each page is identified by a Universal Resource Locator (URL). The URL denotes both the server machine, and the particular document or file or page on that machine. There may be many documents or pages or URLs resident on a single server.
In order to use the WWW, a client runs a piece of software known as a Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator.TM. from Netscape Communications Corporation. The client interacts with the browser to select a particular URL, which in turn causes the browser to send a request for that URL or page to the server identified in the URL. Typically, the server responds to the request by retrieving the requested page, and transmitting the data for that page back to the requesting client (the client-server interaction is performed in accordance with the hypertext transport protocol ("HTTP")). This page is then displayed by the browser to the user of the browser.
Most WWW pages also contain one or more references to other WWW pages, which need not be on the same server as the original page. Such references may generally be activated by the user selecting particular locations on the screen, typically by (double) clicking a mouse control button. These references or locations are known as hyperlinks, and are typically flagged by the browser in a particular manner (for example, any text associated with a hyperlink may be in a different color). If a user selects the hyperlink, then the referenced page is retrieved and replaces the currently displayed page.
Further information about HTML and the WWW can be found in "World Wide Web and HTML" by Douglas McArthur, p18-26 in Dr Dobbs Journal, December 1994, and in "The HTML SourceBook" by Ian Graham, (John Wiley, New York, 1995).
In 1997, it has been estimated that there are 30 million different Web sites and hundreds of millions of subsidiary pages, with millions of additional sites being added each year. Because the content of the WWW is so vast and is constantly being updated, "search" sites were developed to assist users of the WWW to find desired information. Web sites, such as www.altavista.digital.com, www.excite.com, www.infoseek.com and www.lycospro.lycos.com, have been created which permit users of the WWW to search the Web for desired information. The search sites rely on search engines which go out and search the Web for information, which is then indexed and maintained by the search site. The engines themselves rely on technology called spiders, which are automated software robots, to go out and crawl the Web and collect information about sites. These spiders are the cornerstones of current search, directory and indexing products/sites deployed throughout the Web which permit Web users to gather targeted information. According to a press release dated Sep. 2, 1997, Lycos, Inc. was to soon receive a patent on spidering technology.
Still, when searching an index of Web information, the results of a simple word search can yield a huge number of "hits". Accordingly, a need developed to assist users of the search sites/products to determine which sites they find using the search site are truly pertinent to their searches. One technique for helping users of Web search engines to find relevant Web sites is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,732. As with most search techniques, this technique provides a user with a list of Web sites that may be of interest in response to a user search. Additionally, this technique provides a ranking of each Web site on the list for potential relevance to the user's search based on some internal criteria. However, this technique relies on the relevance of the internal criteria to the user's search in order to provide the user with useful information. To actually determine whether a site is relevant or not, a user must still select the hyperlink provided in the hit list and access the site itself. Of course, this can be quite time consuming.
Accordingly, a need exists for a technique by which a user of a Web search site or product can quickly and easily ascertain whether a site listed in a search results list merits further investigation.